...So Man Created God in His Own Image

I claim that I am a big Death Metal fan, I also claim that I don't like very much Black Metal. But when done right the combination of the two can outright slay. Abused Majesty is one band who figured out the perfect mix of the two genres to get their sound. I guess one element of Black Metal that I hate is the overly shitty production that I swear has to be done on purpose. Well that was not one of the elements carried over to this disc. The production is quite clear and this makes for a very pleasing experience as opposed to an experience where I am struggling to hear what is going on. That was basically me explaining how I am a baby.

Abused Majesty use an abundance of tremolo picking and change to a progressive lead into the choruses. There is probably more Black Metal used in the music than Death Metal. The Death elements used are for the most part the drumming, some of the vocals and the breakdowns. With that said some of the riffs are a combination of both. Abused Majesty use some symphonics to complement their sound, and holy shit does it work. With the use of melodic riffing and symphonics they achieve a very dark effect. I believe each song is supposed to progress into each other – if you listen to them in order, you feel like you are there while they are playing. This effect really is shown in the song I am Destroyer of Gods; it starts off with just vocals spewing words to intimidate, and then they kick into another Melodic Black Metal riff and continue with start-stop riffing and short breakdowns with Death Metal style vocals. I can just imagine that this song would be the closer to a live set as it implements everything they use on the album. It is fast and melodic, symphonic and brutal. That is the epitome of the whole album. Abused Majesty have achieved in two albums what some fail to achieve after years of trying.

Taking parts of two different subgenres can turn out really bad. We all know this because of Deathcore. But Death/Black Metal has been around much longer and is one of the accepted types, but the same with any other hybrids there can be problems. After analyzing and tweaking what was done before, the end result can turn out priceless. A very talented band here has made a great album which you can headbang, mellow out, or straight up destroy things to at different times and it is all done to perfection.

Originally written for http://www.metalcrypt.com

To be honest Abused Majesty is one of those bands I’ve heard a lot about but never really heard, so I don’t know much about them except that the predecessor "Serpenthrone" got great reviews. To my confusion this album contains a track called "Serpenthrone", but apparently there’s no such track on the album bearing the same title (so it’s not a re-recorded tune, as I first assumed). Another thing that confuses me is track twelve of "…So man created god in his own image", which gave me quite a brute awakening when I first heard it. It sounded so different from the rest of the album, so imagine my surprise when I looked at the tracklist for the song’s name and find only eleven tracks listed. And so far I haven’t found any information whatsoever to what song it is, but I’m convinced it’s a cover. As Kevin Bacon once said; ‘what the hell’s going on, I mean what the hell’s going on?’. Anyway… This is a dual-disc release, where disc one contains the latest album of Abused Majesty and the second one contains all their demos as a bonus. But first let’s focus on the "…So man created god in his own image" part of the release first.

As I said I don’t know much about the band, and I was under the assumption it was a pure black metal act. But there’s certainly loads of death metal thrown into the mix, just as the music makes a hint towards symphonic black. The end result sounds a little bit like something in between fellow countrymen Hermh and Behemoth. While the symphonic bits of the music can be reminiscent of Dimmu Borgir the harsher moments can smell of Emperor, just as the death metal aspect feels a bit like Myrkskog and a few melodic lines get me thinking of Dissection. Yeah, I know that’s a lot of name-dropping for one review, but I actually do get flashbacks of ‘em all throughout "…So man created god in his own image".

While there’s no question to whether or not these are some talented musicians and the music is tight, carries with it lots of tempo changes and swift twists, I can’t say I’m instantly hooked. The first couple of times around I wasn’t really all that impressed, albeit I certainly didn’t think it was bad. The drumming is superb with some fine blasting, the riffing is energetic, the vocals harsh and the keyboard mostly subtle, but still there’s something about it that just doesn’t have me nailed to my seat. This type of melodic death/black metal leaning towards symphonic isn’t really my cup of tea, but I’d definitely recommend it to a fan of the style.

And then we have the second disc, of this great-looking digipack, containing their three demos, called "Worship gods of immortality". First out is "Crusade for immortality" from 2006. These tracks feel more like a prelude to the …So man created god in his own image album. It’s the same line-up and the music sounds pretty much the same, albeit without the powerful production (and honestly not as strong vocals either, eventhough it’s the same guy).

What is much more interesting here is the "Gods are with us" demo from 2001. This recording has a completely different line-up except for Icanraz, the drummer. The vocals are a bit harsher, more gnarly, and the music is way more chaotic. This is more pure melodic black metal with keyboard, and it really reminds me of the German band Aeba’s older material. It’s a bit rough around the edges, the sound isn’t awesome, but it has a chaotic feel and great atmosphere, I’m actually quite enjoying this. Last out is the "Thee I worship" demo from 1999, and here my mind goes to the old Swedish act Non Serviam for that unpolished touch. It might not be the greatest material ever, but it’s cool to hear where the band started out to where they really found their sound.

I think it’s freakin’ fantastic to include lyrics to all the three demos, in a rather thick booklet with info concerning each recording as well as artwork for each release. That feels like something many other labels/bands wouldn’t have bothered to include, but I find it crucial to get the full feel of the old material as well. I guess the focuspoint for the release is the "…So man created god in his own image" side, but a fan of older melodic black metal could really enjoy the album just for the demo material included.

Originally written for http://www.mylastchapter.net